Patches is a puppy who is very good at waiting. He waits for his humans, a two-woman couple, to get up, to play with him, and to return home after they go out. When they arrive home one day, however, they are carrying “a milky-smelling blanket bundle.” Patches wonders, “Does it play? Does it speak? What is it for?” They tell him to be patient.
Patches’ patience is tested, however, since everything he wants to do now takes more time, as the moms clean, feed, and soothe their new bundle. Patches watches and waits as eventually the bundle grows and Patches realizes it is a baby person. Patches delights in showing the baby how to play, to be quiet (well, really to howl), and to share food. They become fast friends and Patches even proves himself a protective guardian when the toddler runs off in the park.
Author Christy Mihaly hits all the right notes here, making Patches relatable without full-on anthropomorphism. While the story is told from Patches’ first-person (first-puppy?) perspective, Patches’ thoughts are still very much a dog’s thoughts: one woman is his “loud-laughing person”; the other is his “soft-singing person,” for example.
Illustrator Sheryl Murray’s drawings are soft and sweet, punctuated by dynamic moments of a jumping pup or baby-and-pup mischief. One mom and the baby read as Black, with medium-dark skin and black, curly hair; the other mom is White, with dark blonde hair.
Children with two moms may particularly appreciate this delightful tale, but it may also resonate with other animal-loving families bringing home new babies, since the fact that it includes two moms is happily incidental.
I mean no slight to this joyous and recommended little book, however, by also observing that this is now the third recent book, after Princess Puffybottom … and Darryl and I, Lincoln, Did Not Ask For This, to show a two-woman couple getting a new baby, told from the perspective of the family’s animal. And both Frank and the Bad Surprise and Pickles + Ocho are told from the perspective of a dog in a two-man (human) family when a second pup arrives. The earlier books in particular seem to treat their animal protagonists as analogies for human siblings—but while Patience, Patches! could simply be read as a book about a pet’s response to a new baby, the publisher itself tweeted that it is “a sweet-new sibling story, perfect for gifting to expecting parents, big siblings to-be, and dog-loving families everywhere,” implying that the sibling analogy holds here as well.
Animal analogies can be fun, but there’s also something to be said for human representation, especially in communities like the LGBTQ one, where children may never have seen another family like theirs in real life. Only one picture book that I am aware of in the U.S. focuses on a human child with same-sex parents (or any clearly LGBTQ parents) welcoming a human sibling, the self-published And Baby Makes 4 from 2009. (Eve’s New Brother is a good one from the U.K., though, and How To Be A Big Brother and How To Be A Big Sister include two-mom and two-dad families among others.) We desperately need more picture books about human families with LGBTQ parents told from the perspective of a human child getting a new sibling, and touching on any of the various means the family may have used: adoption, assisted reproduction, etc.) That doesn’t take away from the fun of the books told from animal perspectives (which are all adorable and sweet), but I hope authors and publishers consider this needed new direction going forward.
